Light meter manufacturer Sekonic has announced that its new L-858D-U light meter is now available and priced at $599/£599.

This new meter offers a number of firsts, including the ability to measure flash duration and to work in HSS mode. It can read out the duration of a burst of light as short as 1/55500 sec and work with shutter speeds as short as 1/16000s ec, both of which will be useful for those working with high-speed photography or trying to balance bright daylight with flash.

Designed for moviemakers as well as still photographers, the meter can display frame rates or shutter speeds under continuous lighting, and with more sensitivity than previous models it can now measure down to 0.1 lx of illuminance for low-light scenes and night photography.

The L-858D-U is also compatible with the radio triggering and control systems of a range of studio and hotshoe flash units via drop-in modules for the PocketWizard, Elinchrom’s Skyport and Phottix Ares ll and Strato ll environments. This 2.7" touchscreen meter offers reflected 1-degree spot metering as well as built-in filter factor modes, an ISO range of 3 - 13,107,200 and a shutter speed range for ambient light that runs from 30 minutes to 1/64000 sec. The wireless modules cost $159/£159 each – the Skyport and Phottix functionalities are combined into a single module.

Now Available: The Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster

The next generation of light measurement control

Sekonic is proud to announce their ground breaking L-858D-U Speedmaster Light Meter is now available for purchase.

As previewed at last year’s Photokina, the L-858D-U Speedmaster is the combination of Sekonic’s cutting-edge light measurement technology and 60 years of experience in the photographic and filmmaking industries. The meter has undergone significant design changes from previous models and has a feature set sure to meet and exceed the demands of today’s image-making professionals.

The First of Its KindThe Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster is the first fully featured light meter to offer flash duration measurement from 1/40 to 1/55,500 sec. at t0.1 through t0.9, which can be changed in 0.1 steps. A long-held secret of some of the world’s most talented photographers, the key to freezing action consistently is found in being able to measure flash duration. Photographers are now able to do this easily for the first time, demystifying one of photography’s most challenging techniques.

Wireless FreedomHaving pioneered wireless exposure measurement, Sekonic has expanded upon this groundbreaking innovation by creating hot-swappable radio control modules for the L-858D-U Speedmaster. With the PocketWizard module, photographers can easily trigger any PocketWizard wirelessly and control the power of their lights with any Control TL compatible unit. With the combined Elinchrom & Phottix module, Phottix users have Strato II and Ares II triggering capabilities, while Elinchrom users have access to wireless triggering and Skyport’s full range of power-control capabilities.

"The Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster has all the touchscreen features I love about my L-478D, with the added benefit of replacing my old spot meter. Now I only have to carry one meter, and have gained a lot of speed and convenience while on set."Timur Civan, Director of Photography

A Low Light MonsterIncreased ISO capabilities in today’s cameras have created a need for light meters to increase their ability to measure light in the dimmest of settings. With an additional 3-stops of light sensitivity for incident light, 2-stops of light sensitivity for reflected light (spot), and an ability to capture a reading down to 0.1 lx of illuminance, accurately metering candle-lit scenes or getting the right measurement for long-exposure night photography is now a possibility.

Master High Speed SyncLike its name implies, the Sekonic L-858D-U Speedmaster is optimized for photographers looking to exceed the maximum sync speed of their camera. For the first time, a light meter can measure the stroboscopic pulses fired from strobes when they are used for High Speed Sync. Finally, photographers now have an accurate way of measuring their lights when they want to overpower the sun or achieve a very shallow depth of field through using HSS.

MultifacetedThe L-858D-U Speedmaster is an invaluable tool for image-makers of every kind. A HD Cine Mode for DSLRs and CINE Mode for Motion Picture Cameras gives filmmakers the ability to set the meter to collect the information relevant to the camera being utilized. Users can set frame rates from 1 to 1000 fps and choose to adjust either their shutter speed or change their shutter angle to acquire an accurate reading. Custom frame rates and shutter angles can also be set for an unprecedented amount of versatility. Now, a content creator can accurately measure their light regardless of the camera, or combination of cameras, they are using.

Filter Compensation ModePhotographers and filmmakers using high-density ND filters now have a filter factor of up to 12EV. Save up to 30 “favorites,” to instantly know what exposure compensation needs to be considered.

For on location (environmental) portraits, especially with multiple strobes they quickly let you set up the ratio of key light , shadow fill, and background without trial and error chimping. Think about how many permutations you get with setting three off camera strobes and ambient background levels!You don't have much time in some executive's office. With a flash meter, fire each strobe and know right away exactly how much to dial power up or down to get the effect you want. You get repeatable highlight to shadow ratios no matter where you are. Camera meters and TTL flash is NOT repeatable since it reads reflected light. And that reflected light will be different depending on clothing, skin color, etc. Again, you'll be left doing trial and error and post corrections without a flash light meter (and the necessary skill to use it correctly!).

cameras inbuilt light meters, old and new, are usually good but far from accurate in difficult light conditions!

even light meters like this aren't accurate really! accurate light metering and precise lightmeter *calibration* can be done ONLY by taking test shots (and using Densitometers if you're doing film photography) which is an area digital imagery (as well as tape "analog" video) wins over film photography because the results are instant and you can view the final image out of camera on a monitor right away! (although monitor calibration at that stage is also yet another problem to tackle, especially if you intend to have your shots printed on paper or other material ...)

that's why you don't really need a lightmeter anymore these days UNLESS you still do film photography ... lightmeters can also be very handy for flash photography, if they do offer a flashmeter option too ...

Completely disagree!. The light meter is VERY relevant theses days for digital photography and I use it daily with during my photoshoots and get consistent results...so here is real life feedback from an actual user.Regards

i'd still say you're wasting your time using a lightmeter in digital photography UNLESS you do readjust your lighting based on both lightmeter readings AS WELL AS checking the final image on a monitor or in print etc and retake some shots ...

and that -again- applies to artificial lighting (flash, reflectors etc) more than natural lighting, where it's impossible (not easy at least) to readjust light *directly* in highlight or shadow areas in a scene photographed under sunlight for example ...

put it other ways, using a lightmeter is comparable to using a tripod, which is a MUST for 'accurate' photography and achieving truly sharp images ... but in actual practice, a tripod slows the photographer down, which is quite a drag when capturing quickly passing moments, not only in action photography, but also in natural light photography such as landscapes etc ...

then something tells me you must be born post 1990s (if not post 2000s) and somewhat new to photography ... (am i wrong there too?)

i say that because up until the 1980s (that is no-digital / film-only photography era btw) i used to use different kinds of handheld as well as in-camera lightmeters and flashmeters a lot in photography and it was a must-have item indeed back in the day ... (especially in the darkroom, which is probably the best place for such devices as lightmeters with a special attachment to serve as a rudimentary densitometer, kind of ...) even today, if you do film photography seriously, then why not, go ahead and use a lightmeter whenever possible ...

but well, you seem to be so self-confident at using such a toy in digital photography too ... so enjoy as you please! as a matter of fact, i do miss my lightmeters of the old times in some ways anyway and one day when i grow up and get rich so i can afford such luxuries, i'd certainly 'collect' them again ... ;-)

While the potential uses of this device are well beyond my current needs, if it's the same quality as the ancient L-358 purchased along with my long departed D1x, it is likely to last longer than I will. :)

Having owned one for 3 months and previously the 478, 358 and 308 this does what a professional needs and then some, what is needed however is trigger modules for Godox etc. and when they have those then this will mean ever more will want to own one

I'm using my Sekonic L-608 for years now. It had a limited EV range, so I added a Gossen Profisix SBC for metering at low light and night down to EV -8.

Metering strobes in the studio and outdoors with the L-608 is smooth as silk. I don't need the flash duration measurement, because I don't use HSS.

It appears to me that new products are loaded with almost endless features - most of them I know I will never need. So I don't think I am ready for an upgrade. Maybe with the next generation which has a smartphone, navigation and camera built-in and can control the content of my fridge or even serve me a hot coffee while I wait for the perfect light during sunrise in winter ;-)

Actually, I am no kid and I have been a photog for about 30 years now. I used to use light meters in the past but for my work (!) I no longer see any use in the digital world.I don't deny that a light meter will make sense in special situations. But I think these situations are pretty rare today.

Same here. I used to have a Minolta Autometer IV and liked it a lot, but after getting the first DSLR some 15 years ago both the light meter and the Polaroid back became next to useless. Good riddance...

@ManfredGrebler I would a agree about not using a light meter. The screens on modern cameras are good enough to get the flash exposure very close and modern files have a lot a play in them as well if your out. A good screen like an Eizo helps as well.

I love my L-358 and feel that any photographer who tries to shoot without an incident light meter is nuts. However, this is going to drive the equivalence people insane. They hate it when confronted with the reality of how camera exposure actually works.

If you could get it through your skull that 'equivalence people' talk about the dof, noise level and resolution of the resulting image (and not the exposure settings on your camera) you'd realise that light meters don't conflict with the concept in any way whatsoever.

1˚ spot reflectance metering is ideal for "ETTR" optimal Raw exposure, giving you precise area readings and the ability to place them where you want on the tonal scale. For example, metering highlighted clouds and exposing to retain detail without blowout is easy and accurate.

The second generation argument from the equivalence preachers is that they have never talked about exposure settings in the cameras.... Yet they continually talked about how the exposure is different with the same settings because equivalence say so....

My first ever lightmeter (late 1970s) was a Sekonic. I ended up replacing it with a Weston Euromaster IV (which I still have, and still works). Because in those days, each press of the shutter cost me 10p (probably nearly one pound in modern money), bless Kodachrome II (later, K25). But now, when you can fire off half a dozen bracketed exposures in the twinkling of an eye for zero cost, WHO, actually, NEEDS a light meter any more?

OK, I'll bite—last weekend I was shooting a black dog around 10 a.m. in a park with sunlight raking from behind the dog. I needed to expose for the dark side of the dog, but my camera meter was exposing for the sunlit grass. And, I couldn't bracket because I was trying to capture a great shot of the dog and they all had to be exposed properly. So I used an incident meter on the side of the dog I needed, set my camera on manual, used the settings from the light meter and shot 300 perfectly exposed pictures.

It could be argued that in camera meters along with exp compensation, histogram, and live preview make external ambient meters unnecessary.However for on location environmental portraiture with more than one light source involved, and where you have a specific lighting ratio in mind between main and fill lights for example (and limited time to set up) I've found knowing how to measure individual lights (that take into account the ambient) to get that required ratio instead of trial and error (no adjusting one light at a time and checking the result) saves time - as well as makes me look more like a pro.

MrBrightSide - totally agreed that manual exposure is essential in situations like this, but I could still get the results I wanted without resorting to a separate hand-held meter. I would simply take a spot reading using my camera, set up the exposure manually, take a test shot, adjust up/down as needed, take another test shot, and when happy, then shoot away.

Often I find there's no time for "test shots" and I have to be able to get the exposure accurate the first time. Experience and intuition using the camera's metering modes help, but I find a good handheld spot meter with it own viewfinder is a great advantage for digital and is essential for film.

Whatever clears your deck for takeoff. The $200 or so that my used L358 cost has more than paid for itself in stress reduction when I'm shooting in difficult situations. I know that i can take an incident reading, set my camera to what it says and not have to fuss with test shots. Other people are comfortable with their strategies and I know one woman who is a human light meter; she can look at a scene and tell exactly what her camera settings should be. I will say, also, however, that the more I get into video, the more I use it because you have to watch your light ratios very carefully, it's easy to totally lose the shadow side of your image or to blow highlights in a way that's really ugly.

The new Sekonic is a top of-the-line full-featured light meter intended for photographers who routinely work with demanding lighting. A beginning photographer can buy a basic ambient/flash meter for much less money. Or they can use free/cheap apps on the smartphones.

I still use a basic Sekonic that I bought circa 1989 for $250. It was my first incident meter and it works great. One gig paid for it. . . Advanced features such as memory, lighting ratios, ambient/flash readouts for fill-flash and spot/incident combo meters are very useful. But a basic digital flash meter with 1/10th stop accuracy will serve the needs of many, if not most photographers.

I don't disagree with you, but it not a stretch to say that much photography equipment costs a boatload of money compared to what your getting. The most basic light meters are still nearly 300 dollar. Most who will look at them will pass, regardless of the features, because that's a lens or two with can arguably take you farther as a student/enthusiast.

These companies, for whatever reasons that may be valid or not, are pricing themselves out of a wider market. If low end versions of these meters- that LITERALLY look like featureless, dumbed down calculators- were cheap as say, a canon nifty 50- then everyone, yes and grandma (hi grandma!) would have one.

That's means more possible future customers that would need better and bigger ones.

Or, then again, maybe the chinese makers will just copy them, and destroy the mower end market. Ah well.

I think that the average hobbyist photographer is not the intended market for an incident meter, no matter how much it costs. I agree that they don't see the value of an incident meter when there is already a meter in the camera. They also tend to rely on automatic exposure settings and multi-segmented metering.

A basic digital incident/flash meter from Sekonic retails for around $200. It's a long-term learning and a practical tool.

It's rather ironic. . . When I was a beginner, I found an incident meter easier to use than the camera meter. I didn't have to take into account subject reflectance and other variables that skew camera meter readings. For many years I only used an incident meter.

But it's when you get into more advanced photography that an incident meter becomes invaluable. Photographers who buy the new Sekonic meter are doing things that hobbyists can only dream about doing. Those advanced photographers aren't put off by the cost for the meter's many features.

The thing is, the companies are not setting the stage for the meter to become essential kit. To learning photographers, essential, basically means 'cheap' 90% of the time.

I took a studio lighting class a few years back, and we used some old beat up, almost one button meter. I looked it up after class- nearly 300 dollars. Cmon. I would love to have one, but paying 300 for a bottom barrel version...no.

Otherwise, most students dont even know what a light meter is, and chances are your not doing flash photography outdoors/studio unless that is some class directive. Many of us learned in other ways- street photography and natural light shooting.

Its up to the companies to market themselves better- make thier product considered essential gear...be aggressive in trade shows, and be economical to students.

Otherwise, a huge chunk of the market with be wondering why the heck something the camera does already costs 600 bucks, like this thing.

In 1977 I could fairly easily freeze my shots at 1/40,000 sec using a manual camera and a manual flash unit. Now I could understand if flash units had the ability to accurately measure and set flash duration, but this amazing new gizmo confuses the heck out of me.

Studio strobes have a flash duration variation that depends on the power setting on which they are being used. Most of the time, Photographers that need really short durations learn the speed of their flashes by experience, as they get familiar with the unit. Manual flash units are not that common in high end studios. Not powerful enough and not enough light modifiers.

I agree that it would be ideal the the flash would give you the duration for each power step, but since that's not the case, then this tool could actually be quite useful.

It is a curious and unqualified statement in the manual. I do not know why it is stated, but the atmosphere becomes thinner at altitudes like this, and while I am sure it is not a matter of atmospheric pressure affecting the device it may be because with thinner atmosphere the spectral composition of light changes somewhat compared to sea level and the meter may read slightly off. I am sure this is not a hard and fast warning, and you could very likely calibrate the meter to deal with it. Probably other meters have the same issue, but not mentioned in the manual. Maybe.

A digital meter can be a VERY long-term investment. Just the other day I used the first digital meter I ever bought, a Sekonic DIGI LITE F L-328. I've had it for over 25 years. It's a very basic meter, measuring only ambient/flash in 1/10 stop increments with no memory functions. But it accepts a 5 degree spot meter accessory and the meter is around the size of a pack of playing cards.

Try telling that to photographers who routinely utilize multiple-lights with varying outputs and mixed light-sources with unique subjects. And try billing your clients for the time that will be required to set-up for those shots because you don't "need" a digital ambient/flash meter.

As a long-time Sekonic user, I'm loving what this new meter is capable of. Though, after watching the video, the user interface looks dated ... like 10 year old iPhone dated. Of course, this is not a huge issue, but given the beautiful interfaces we all use daily on our phones, it would have been nice to see a more contemporary user interface on such a capable product.

I'm referring to the aesthetics of the software which really has no bearing on battery life. Smartphones are doing a lot in the background and the market demands them to be paper thin (i.e. they're going to have small batteries). This isn't a smartphone.

Well oddly enough I was just thinking about a new hand held meter. Not sure mine is working so well anymore and I shot film with my 4x5 and Hasselblad. So I do have use for a new one. Though in most of my uses my digital camera actually makes a pretty good Meter/Polaroid.

I too am a Hasselblad film shooter. The announcement of this new light meter caught my eye and I quickly downloaded the manual. It has a lots of interesting functions, but the most basic and essential to any Hassy user, EV value display, does not seem to be there. Pity. I was about to place an order but will pass if the meter cannot display EV values!

Zaax, I think the EV values mentioned in the specs represent the measurement range (expressed in EV). Surely the meter internally "thinks" in EV (or whatever equivalent measurement unit the engineers chose). If I understood the manual correctly, the meter has 3 display modes for ambient light: aperture priority, time priority, and aperture+time priority, in which the meter displays an ISO value (Great for digital photographers!). But a simple display of the measured EV, like many previous meters have, seem absent. I will definitely check that in a store when the product becomes available here.

I think Sekonic just caused me undue harm and stress by subjugating me with yet another gizmo that I totally don't need but absolutely want to need and will most definitely justify needing to the point of needing it enough to think myself into buying it. Should I sue them ?

It's a pretty cool meter I'm sure, but in this day of instant review with histograms and such, it would take some very unusual circumstances to make me think that my old Sekonic L-308S wasn't plenty enough meter for the foreseeable circumstances. I wonder how large is the market for those who will truly make good use of its capabilities.

On location environmental portraiture where you have a specific lighting ratio in mind between main and fill lights for example and limited time to set up would be one of those "unusual" circumstances I guess ;)I've found knowing how to measure individual lights (that take into account the ambient) to get that required ratio instead of trial and error ( changing a light, taking a picture, changing another light, adjusting the exposure, chimping again, etc.) saves time - as well as makes me look more like a pro.

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